Can Serving Size and Calorie Information Backfire?

摘要

Although serving sizes were originally designed to closely match what consumers would eat in a consumption occasion, consumption patterns and portion sizes have significantly changed over the years (Young and Nestle 2002). Given these changes, the FDA is updating some serving sizes to more accurately represent what a consumer would be likely to eat in a sitting in order to help them with "healthy dietary practices," and will be making the serving size, and particularly the calorie information per serving more prominently displayed on the nutrition facts panel (FDA 2016). Given the potential problems with current serving sizes and the proposed changes to serving size labels by the FDA, this research examines how serving size and calorie information influences consumption. This research looks to find out if providing typical serving size and calorie information influences consumption or consumption intentions compared to when there is no calorie information presented. We also investigate how varying the serving sizes and calorie levels listed on snack products can change consumption intentions.